mention we may need the horses later,” Tsai Lin added. “For meat.”
“Our Blessed-of-Heaven ally,” Sho Tsai said. “Does she have any fresh intelligence to impart regarding her brother’s intentions?”
The thorn in her mind remains unplucked, Vaelin thought, deciding it would add nothing of value to the discussion. “Only that he will attack again,” he said. “In fact she seems surprised he hasn’t already done so.”
“The walls of the second tier stand ten feet higher than the outer,” Tsai Lin said. “They may well be constructing taller ladders.”
“Weak points?” Vaelin asked. “I once took a city because its governor forgot to secure a drain.”
“Keshin-Kho was constructed more as a fortress than a city,” Sho Tsai said. “All drains were built too small to allow passage of a man, or even a child. If the Darkblade wants his victory, he will need to scale the walls and hold them, meaning he will have to use his best warriors. When he does, we’ll cull his army of the bravest and most skillful souls he possesses. Then let him try to take the Venerable Kingdom with a mob of untrained fanatics.”
* * *
◆ ◆ ◆
He was woken by Alum sometime after moonrise, the hunter taking a careful step back as Vaelin started from slumber, hunting knife in hand. “The mason had a dream,” Alum said. “A bad dream.”
Vaelin rose from his bedroll, reaching for his boots. He and the others had taken to sleeping in the temple grounds, making a home of sorts beneath the roof of a centuries-old shrine. The others woke with a variation of curses or resigned sighs as Alum moved to kick them awake.
“What did you see?” Vaelin asked, moving to Ahm Lin’s side. The mason sat with shoulders slumped, his gaze distant, stirring when Vaelin placed a hand on his shoulder.
“A tiger,” he said, Vaelin feeling him shudder as he mastered himself, speaking on in a firmer voice. “A tiger assailing a mountain, tearing at it with tooth and claw. It bled as it fought the mountain, teeth shattered, claws torn away, flesh raw and bleeding. But still it tore at the stone, growing fresh teeth, sprouting new claws and in the end it was the mountain that fell.”
“We’ve heard no alarms all night, my lord,” said Sehmon, who had been on watch with Ellese. From the tousled appearance of both, Vaelin concluded they had been doing more than just watching, but that was of scant importance just now.
“Gather your weapons,” he told them all. “We’ll take a tour of the walls. Sehmon, find Tsai Lin and tell him I believe we have a troubled night ahead. I leave it to him whether he wishes to advise the general so.”
The walls of the second tier featured only two gates, one facing north, the other south. They were barred by thick doors of oak braced with iron. Additional defence was provided by a heavy portcullis, which had been permanently lowered since the army’s retreat from the lower tier. Sho Tsai had also taken the precaution of stationing two full regiments in close proximity to each gate. These consisted of veterans rather than the recently raised conscripts that filled the ranks of most other companies.
Vaelin checked both gates in turn, finding nothing amiss, before conducting a full circuit of the walls. He had ordered the regiments mustered in full battle order, stationing the bulk of the crossbowmen on the battlements above each gate. After an hour of pacing ranks of mostly young men, who clearly wanted nothing more than a return to their bunks, Ahm Lin’s tiger had failed to appear.
“What do you sense?” he asked, coming to Juhkar’s side. The tracker stood alongside Ahm Lin above the north gate, both staring into the gloomy, ruined maze of streets below. The moon was full this night, silver-blue light catching the tumbled walls and debris from which smoke still rose in places.
“Just the Darkblade,” Juhkar said, eyes roving the ruins. He had a poison-coated arrow nocked to his bow, fingers tensed on the string. “He’s out there, waiting.”
“No other?” Vaelin pressed him.
The tracker shook his head. “Whatever stirs tonight, it will be of his making.”
A chorus of formal greetings sounded to the left, indicating the arrival of their general. “These men can’t stand to all night,” Sho Tsai told Vaelin, striding towards him across the battlement. “Not if we expect them to fight tomorrow.”
“Something is coming,” Vaelin assured him, nodding to the two Gifted, who continued to peer into the gloom with